Recipe: Manicotti Stuffed with Tofu and Spinach

From: calliope,.NY

CALLIOPE’S......MANICOTTI stuffed with TOFU and SPINACH
in a MARINARA, SPAGHETTI SQUASH SAUCE.

If you hate tofu...just use ricotta or cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese...

Cut a med-large spaghetti squash in half, place the halves cut-side down in 2-inches of boiling water, cover and simmer for 45min.-1hour or till just tender. You will need to do them a half at a time because of the size if you are using a stockpot...all at once if you are using a roasting pan.

Saute one large yellow onion, rough chopped, and 2-3 large garlic cloves minced, in some olive oil with some red pepper flakes, 2- Bay leaves and a bit of dried thyme for about 5-8 minutes, add 1-cup dry red wine and simmer about 5 minutes. Add a jar of Paul Newman’s Marinara Sauce, the juice of one lemon (cause its too sweet! and you may also want to add a splash of either red wine vinegar or balsamic as well, a handful of chopped Italian parsley, a small can of sliced black olives, rough chopped, and bring back to a simmer and turn off the heat. Add one more large raw garlic clove minced fine.

Par-boil your manicotti shells for about 7 minutes and rinse thoroughly in cold water, inside and out, so they don’t stick closed...drain and set aside.

Beat 2 eggs, add a good grating of nutmeg, some fresh black pepper, oregano and parsley and either 2 “bricks” of extra firm tofu, squeezed of water best you can...or one of the tofu and a generous cup of cottage or farmer’s cheese and 1/3-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and one or 2-10-oz. boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of as much water as you can.
I also like to add a bit of olive oil...and combine it all with a potato masher.

Stuff the manicotti shells. Place half your sauce in a lasagna baking dish, lay the shells on top and cover with the rest of the sauce. Bake covered with foil at 350 for 45 minutes. Half way through, carefully peel up the foil, scatter the squash around and poke it down, recover and continue baking.

If you wish, you may uncover it at the end and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella or Fontina cheese and bake, uncovered another 10 minutes, or just till the cheese melts...or serve it without and instead, just another sprinkling of Parmesan.

*NOTE*....obviously you could also do this using jumbo shells or lasagna noodles. Serve it with a nice green salad with a red wine vinaigrette and fruit for dessert!